I used to read a lot and I had tried everything I read. I read books on art as I loved drawing and painting. I put to use the techniques learned. Then I picked up books on Indian customs and religion. I adapted them in my life. I read about health and followed every tip given. I invested my money in health products and took all the food that was claimed to do good. My attention then turned to Yoga. I tried all the methods and practices shown in books. I then began to perform puja at home while continuing my visits to the temples in the vicinity. I included every mantra that I came across in my puja.
This was how I spent my after-office hours as a bachelor in a lazy coastal town back in the eighties. In the office, a few seniors and I would exchange the things we read. Then in 1988, I had a dream that put a stop to all my activities. At the same time, I was transferred back to my HQ in the capital city. I refrained from all my previous activities. Even after my marriage the following year, I did nothing towards continuing these activities except occasionally I would take my family to the temple for their sake. In 1996, interest in seeing the horoscope was rekindled when an officemate used to talk about it. I came to know Dr.Krishnan, a Siddha physician, and astrologer. He was the first one to speak about the Nadi. But it did not kindle my interest then. When my second daughter was born in 1998, I became a vegetarian for no particular reason. In 2001, a great revival took place. I returned to worship the Gods and Goddesses as my nephew brought me a message, a mantra, and a painting from his lineage of gurus. The following year, I read the Nadi when interest came over me after my colleague spoke about his experience in seeing it two years earlier. That reading set my life on the path of the Siddhas.
Searching for information on the Siddhas had me buy and read books about them. I had a renewed interest in religion and spirituality. I began to frequent the national library with my family. I began to read again. I gathered all the songs of praise to the Siddhas, that I came across in all these books, compiled them, and used them to sing during my home puja. My search took me to search on the net too. In all my readings the Siddhas were shown to be superhuman beings capable of doing Siddhis or simply said, magic in our eyes. They were made out to be living in another realm that was out of reach to us. Reading about them in these books and the net could not connect us with them. They seem to be fictitious characters from a comic book, literally unbelievable. They were made out to be so alien. The writings on the pages from these books and articles on the net were dry and too academic. My interest was not in who they were and how they lived but in the method and practice of worship to them. Since Agathiyar had specifically told me in the Nadi to worship them, I scouted around for organizations that could be engaging in their worship. I was disappointed as they were either into doing charity, or meditation, or into Satsang debating endlessly on the supernatural aspect or the Siddhis and powers they had. I stopped frequenting them.
After my first Nadi reading in 2002, I was solely on my own for the next four years trying to decipher the songs that I sang before them. Though I had come to know Supramania Swami, my first guru, he was not into Siddha worship. He had 5 gurus including his father, Jayaram Pillai, Poondi Mahan, Kollimalai Swami, Sadhanantha Swami, and Yogi Ramsuratkumar. He showed me Guru Bakti or devotion to the Guru. In 2005, Agathiyar send Tavayogi to our shores to fulfill the longing I had. Tavayogi worshipped the Siddhas. He had gurus in the form of Chitramuthu Adigal and his guru Jeganatha Swami. He took me on a journey of discovery of the Siddhas, not from books but walking through the jungles and staying in caves that were naturally the abode of the Siddhas. Today I understand that the Siddhas who are very much a part of nature are in the Prapanjam. They take a form to meet us for the sole reason that we are not tuned to receive the vibrational energies that exist in these places. The Siddhas materialize easily in our time-space if and when there is a need or an SOS call goes out to them. The songs of praise to the Siddhas are the instrument to bring them over. The rituals bridge both worlds. The yantras, tantras, and mantras all do a similar thing. With sincere devotion to the ritual or act on hand, we can easily get them to manifest before us either with a form or as vibrational energy. I have written much about these energies prevalent in the pilgrimage spots that one can connect to in several of my earlier posts.
If Agathiyar and Tavayogi brought us to carry out rituals and see them in the statues initially, the Siddhas soon came as energies to sit among us and witness these rituals. Having stayed faithfully on the path of the Siddhas, we realize that all the hocus pocus and mystery that surrounds the Siddhas are uncalled for. Today instead of giving momentary darshan or exciting us with visions of them, they connected us to the Prapanjam where we imbibe the bliss of their vibrations that encompasses all of creation. We have begun to see creation as vibration. Now I understand why Tavayogi replied to my wish to see Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal with another question "Is that what you want?"
In the documentary "Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds" (IW&OW) we are told, "The ancient Vedic teachers taught Nada Brahma, the universe is vibration. The vibratory field is at the root of all spiritual experiences and scientific investigations. It is the same field of energy that saints, buddhas,... yogis have observed by looking within themselves. It is called by various names... Primordial AUM or Om. It is the common root of all religions and the link between our inner worlds and the outer worlds." Tavayogi in speaking about the origin of all of creation from the one source, too mentions it as AUM or Om. What appears out there in the Andam is similarly seen to exist in the Pindam he adds.
Agathiyar told us he was in us and all of creation as vibration or அதிர்வு. Tavayogi in giving us an idea of how creation took place in his book "Andamum Pindamum" and "Atma Thathuvam", quotes Supramaniar Gnanam 32, where it is revealed that in the beginning, a sound emerged in the Paraparam. This first vibrational state that created this sound was known as Akaaram. The second state that prolonged and sustained this first sound came to be called Ukaaram. Maakaaram was the final state that contained these vibratory sounds. The three came together as "that", which was to become the source of all creation, known as AUM.
"ஆதியிலே பரா பரத்திற் பிறந்த சத்தம்" என்ற வரியின் மூலம் முதன் முதலிலே ஒலி தோன்றியது. ஒலி உண்டாவதற்கு உரிய முதல் அதிர்வு நிலையே அ காரம் எனப்படுவது. இரண்டாவது அதிர்வு நிலை நீடிப்புக்கு உ காரம் எனப் பெயரிட்டனர். மேற்கண்ட இரண்டு அதிர்வு நிலைகளையும் ஒரு எல்லைக் கோட்டிற்குள் காத்து நிற்கும் அதிர்வு நிலையை ம காரம் எனப் பெயரிட்டனர்.
ஆகவே அண்டத்தில் ஏற்பட்ட மூலமான அ, உ, ம என்ற மூன்றும் சேர்ந்து அண்டத்தை இயக்குகிறது. அதேபோல் பிண்டத்தில் ஏற்படுகின்ற அ, உ, ம அதிர்வு நிலையால் சரீரம் இயங்குகின்றது.
அண்டங்கள், பிண்டங்கள், பேரண்டங்கள், பிரபஞ்சங்கள் அத்துனைக்கும் மூலகர்த்தாவாக இயங்குகின்ற அ, உ, ம சேர்வே ஓம் என்ற பிரணவம் ஆகும். ஓம் என்கின்ற பிரணவம் தான் ஆதி என்பதும், அந்த ஆதி வஸ்துவே உலகமெல்லாம் நிறைந்து நிர்கின்ற ஆதி சக்தி. அந்தச் சக்தியே எங்கும் செயல்படுகின்றது. முதலும் முடிவுமாக இருப்பது ஓங்காரம்தான். இந்த ஓங்காரத்திலே இருந்துதான் எழுவகை பிறப்பு உண்டாயிற்று. இந்தப் பிரபஞ்ச மூல ஆற்றலானது ஆதியிலே பிரிக்க முடியாத ஆதி அணூ பரமாணு ஆகும்.
As Tavayogi explained about the AUM, we are told in the documentary that "Akasha or space exists simultaneously with vibration. If Akasha is Ying, Prana is Yang."
The principle factor that drives the universe, cosmos, and consciousness is A U, M that takes the form and sound of the pranavam. From https://www.ananda.org/yogapedia/aum/ we learn the same that "AUM is the vibration by which the Supreme Spirit brings all things into manifestation." Paramahansa Yogananda has explained that everything - all matter, all energy, all thoughts - exists in AUM. We read further that "AUM, therefore, encompasses the three vibratory energies required to create, preserve, and destroy, and each of these energies vibrates at a different frequency. The three letters of AUM represent these three vibrations inherent in creation."
The documentary quotes the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as having said, "The wave is the primordial phenomenon that gave rise to the world." We are shown how gliding a bow of a violin on a metal plate, reassembles the sand placed on it into a pattern, and how water forms ripples and patterns when mantras are chanted into it.
From https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/Lesson-3/Reflection,-Refraction,-and-Diffraction we learn further.
Like any wave, a sound wave doesn't just stop when it reaches the end of the medium or when it encounters an obstacle in its path. Rather, a sound wave will undergo certain behaviors when it encounters the end of the medium or an obstacle. Possible behaviors include reflection off the obstacle, diffraction around the obstacle, and transmission (accompanied by refraction) into the obstacle or new medium.
So we realize that sounds create vibrations or rather move existing waves. From vibrations, a pattern and a form is created. If sound waves and the vibrations that result have the capacity to travel far and be heard, we can possibly comprehend the effects of our language and words used and the extent it travels. Maybe we ought to be careful what we say less it materializes and does harm. We become co-creators. We are an extension arm of the creator.
In the opening sequence of the documentary, we read a quote from William Blake, "See a world in a grain of sand and see a heaven in a wild flower." We learn further from IW&OW that, "The smallest stream of light contains the pattern of the whole" like dew on a spider's web. "It is as if there has been an invisible dancer, a shadow dancer hidden in the belly of the universe. All the other dancers have always danced around this hidden dancer."
Do we see a resemblance to the dance of Shiva?
We need only open our eyes to the beauty of creation all around us and its dance. We need only tune in with this dance to savor the calm, peace, and bliss that prevails within creation. Though creation seems chaotic and messy, there is a certain beauty, pattern, and design in it.
If there is a call for a reset, this is how we should reset ourselves to bring awareness to all things present and appreciate the creativity that went into the making of this world of ours by the divine hand.